In a semiconductor manufacturing process, semiconductor devices are transferred from a semiconductor wafer onto a carrier structure, such as a tape or a lead frame, for packaging purposes. In a typical chip transfer system, a chip transfer unit and a chip flip unit are used to pick up a semiconductor chip from a semiconductor wafer, to flip the orientation of the semiconductor chip, and to place the semiconductor chip onto a carrier structure. For example, the chip transfer unit can be used to pick up an integrated circuit (IC) die from a wafer and transfer the IC die onto the chip flip unit, which is typically placed between the chip transfer unit and a carrier substrate. The chip flip unit can be used to flip the orientation of the IC die and to place the flipped IC die on the carrier substrate. For example, a wafer is usually positioned with the active side (also referred to as the bumped side, top side, or front side) facing the chip transfer and chip flip units. The chip transfer unit picks up the IC die on the bumped side while the chip flip unit flips the IC die such that the bumped side is up and places the flipped IC die on a carrier substrate with the bumped side facing upward.